There are a lot of Cowboys fans on this forum and elsewhere that seem to have short memories about the RB position. Particularly when it comes to the criticism of paying Zeke the contract he signed.
There is some validity to the RB position is expendable and that most wear down before the contract is up.
But, I think Zeke is a special RB and is a mold-breaker, much like Emmitt was.
Emmitt played for over a decade at a high level. Zeke looks to be the type of RB who will excel longer than the average time frame for RBs. He has no history of getting hurt and seems to have the build/athleticism to endure at a high level for multiple years. Now, could he suffer an injury and affect his longevity but that's the nature of the beast.
His contract is basically a 3 year deal, starting this season, for the guarantees and I think he should have no problem justifying the pay given his performance and importance to the team. Many RBs that sign big deals get them out of luck due to having a breakout season and then they either get injured or revert back to their true selves and reveal themselves as average RBs who can be replaced.
Zeke is an exceptional RB specimen and if healthy, he should be the bell cow for more than 3 years and justify his contract.
It's not a dig at Zeke because of his skill as a player. It's the Cowboys overvaluing the RB position. Look around the league... the highest paid RBs are Zeke, Gurley, Leveon, DJ, Freeman, Saquon ... None of them lead their teams to the playoffs. You could go deeper down that list and the same can be said... but Zeke makes twice as much as them. This is not even a joke. You could even look at the most successful individual performances... McCaffrey's heroics occurred on an underwhelming Panthers team. Nick Chubb...same. Derrick Henry broke out in a big big way, but it came totally unexpected and wasn't a winning formula... ultimately, the Titans gave Tannehill $30M per year and decided to tag Henry. Crazy? Not so fast...
Look what happened to Gurley and Freeman.
The pre-extension warning signs were there... RBs being devalued in the draft isn't a new concept... But getting kicked out of the playoffs because CJ Anderson (not Todd Gurley) ran like a bowling ball down our throats should've been a huge wake up all... instead of realizing it when it hit our face... aka RB is really not important... we gave him an extension TWO years early. That's ANOTHER problem when you draft a 1st round RB. They think they are more important than they are. Pollard came in as a 4th round pick and gave us a big boost as a rookie. This kind of impact shouldn't be considered rare or unexpected. The Cowboys build up an OL so that they don't HAVE to pay a big money RB.
The Chiefs and Niners got to the SB using a stable of recycled RBs. Injuries will eventually catch up at the position. Despite the Niners bringing in McKinnon and Coleman, it was Mostert who stepped up big. When the Chiefs lost Kareem Hunt in the offseason, all they did was win the SB with RBs that a common football household can't all name.
Now folks are complaining about a lackluster FA class. There's really not a lot of confidence that Zeke, the Superstar, is going to take this team to another level... because well... that was SUPPOSED to happen this past season when he got his big extension... instead we flopped in a big way.
Our team makes good decisions and not so good decisions, but I feel like we would be fine without Zeke if we replaced him with cheaper options. ...and does anyone else wonder what Houston would've given us if we gave them Zeke over David Johnson???
